Leading from the back Noble’s seven seniors make a solid backfield

NORTH BERWICK, Maine — It’s not lost on the Noble High School boys soccer team’s how special its 2012 season was.

“It meant a lot for Noble soccer,” said goalie Drew Martin. “We hadn’t gotten into the playoffs in a long time, and we showed people that we were here to play.”

The key now is to prove that it was no aberration. In 2012 the Knights won more games than in the previous three years combined, but their season ended abruptly with a lopsided loss at Greely in the quarterfinals.

The task of continuing that success falls squarely on the shoulders of Noble’s seven seniors, which will comprise the bulk of the starting backfield for the Knights. In addition to Martin, Mike Gough, Jake Coffey, Billy Gagner and Keegan Whelan will anchor the defensive line while DJ Cloutier and Sean Jackson are the team’s key midfielders.

“That’s where we’ll see what we’re made of,” said Noble third-year coach Matt Foster. “We’ll see if we move the ball from the middle of the field and control it defensively.”

For the team’s upperclassmen, being on the same page will be key.

“It’s going to take a lot of communication,” Jackson said. “We have two junior strikers, so we need to get them into the ‘senior mojo,’ get them talking with us. Communication is our biggest key this year.”

Communication wasn’t necessarily a strong suit of the team last year, according to Jackson.

“Last year it was lacking a little, but we had better scorers,” Jackson said. “This year it’s going to take a lot of communication to stay in games this year.”

Having seven seniors together in the backfield gives Foster confidence that his team will work well together as a whole.

“Soccer defense isn’t four guys in the backfield, it’s 11 guys working together,” Foster said. “As a group, we definitely learned that last year. As much as it’s great to have those guys back there, I’ve got guys stepping up as juniors who are going to get a lot of minutes as subs.”

Noble also has a strong core of juniors, including defenders Jamal Durrani and Joe Langley, forwards Henry Hintermeister and Josh Emard and midfielders Brandon Ford and Bailey McKenna. Ford, Emard and Hintermeister are expected to score their fair share of goals.

Noble scored first in the quarterfinal match last fall, but No. 3 Greely scored five unanswered goals to earn a 5-1 win, ending the Knights’ dream season. it was 4-1 at halftime. Noble had earned its way to the quarters with a 2-0 upset at Windham in the first round.

Since Greely plays a Class B schedule, the only chance the Knights have for revenge will be a playoff rematch. Put Coffey down as interested in one.

“It definitely motivates us a lot,” Coffey said of last year’s playoff loss. “Hopefully we can bring it back this year if we get another chance at them.”

Foster said he knows that Noble soccer now has a target on its back, something the team was unaccustomed to in years past.

“Teams are gunning for us,” Foster said. “Last year we started the season (with a win) at Biddeford, and it wasn’t especially surprising for teams to see that we beat them. Then we went up to Portland and got a big victory up there, and I think a lot of other teams were surprised. We battled with teams, and teams are expecting it now. They’re expecting teams to show up.”

Noble opens the season on Saturday at Massabesic.

“We’re going to have a very strong defense this year,” Martin said. “Hopefully we’ll score a lot, too.”